From Another's Eyes
by Rocko Chresington
Summary: Riku was chosen to wield the Keyblade, but will he accept it?


**Prologue:** Childhood Memories

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It was an ordinary mid-afternoon day on Destiny Islands. The tropical island, where children often played, was lit up by the sun's graceful rays. It beamed through the lush vegetation, from palm trees to island ferns, illuminating the island's appearance. The golden sandy shores looked as inviting as the crystal blue sea that washed up along the shores in tickling waves, dragging beautiful sea shells back into the silent depths. The wooden-built structures looked amazing; the bridges, the shacks, and the fences put up for boundaries -- after all, there were children around. As inviting as it looked, it was desolate and quiet. Two little rowboats pulled up on the dockside. Two little boys left their boats roped to the dock, and their oars carefully placed in a lying-down position on the sand.

It was bright and sunny, slightly humid, which Riku took note of. He just turned six years old, and was known to be rather tall for his age -- an early bloomer. Sora was the runt; at five years old, he was still quite small. They were best friends, nevertheless, even thought their looks were completely opposite. Sora was the hyper and cheerful brunette, while Riku was the calm and silent silver-haired.

They wore their casual beach clothes. Sora preferred a slacky, white T-shirt with copenhagen blue trim, and volleyball red shorts. Riku chose a sleeveless golden top with black trim. He wore matching black shorts, and black arm-guards that looked like protective friendship bracelets. The two best friends wore their contrasting outfits when they came to the play island, because it was fun attire to compare with the other islander children that came there. Nowadays, it was just nine-year-olds to fourteen-year-olds, which happened to be three other residents: Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka.

Riku tended to be much braver and more courageous than Sora, who usually was nervous and hesitant, jumping to conclusions on a daily basis, as well as believing everything Riku said. They treaded the golden sands, approaching the "secret place" located by the waterfall and freshwater pond. It was Riku who named the cave, since Sora was that bad at names -- it used to be called "scary dark hole" before Riku re-named it. Sora agreed with "secret place" better.

The secret cave didn't look as threatening as it usually did, but Sora was cautious. Riku yawned in utter boredom, while twirling a silver lock around his index finger. Sora pounced on the grey stone beside the freshwater pond, crawling on his knees, and staring up as he drew near the cave. Riku finally spoke after such a pathetic dispaly from his only best friend, "Sora, you're being ridiculous."

Sora heard Riku's voice so unexpectedly, he jumped with slight surprise. He calmed his racing heart, turned around to face Riku with an angered face, and upt his finger to his lips to say, "Shh!" The silver-haired boy didn't look offended, just annoyed, which he accomplished by crossing his arms and leaning against the rocky wall by the cave entrance. Riku bet he could easily make a mad dash inside, leaving the terrified brunette outside just for fun... but he wouldn't be that mean for now. He'd use that as his last resort.

Riku fiddled with his thumbs in boredom, watching Sora prowl like a scared dog with its tail between its legs. He suddenly said, "Are you sure it's not your imagination?"

Sora jumped unexpectedly again, putting his hand to his chest to calm his heart once again. He looked even more furious than before, "It's true! I saw it with my own eyes!"

"Are you sure you didn't just hear it this time?" Riku asked, still folding his arms. He looked really ticked off; even for a first-grader, he looked pretty serious -- being serious was a trait the brunette was not fond of.

"What difference does it make?" Sora asked, getting up, and brushing the dust sediments off his crimson shorts. He messed up his spiky hair, while Riku sighed in annoying boredom. Boys like Riku detested to be bored. Sora suddenly, and rapidly, pointed to the secret cave, and tried to convince Riku, "There's a huge monster in there, I tell you!"

Riku acted half-amused and half-irritated, "All right." He said in a cool tone -- strange for a little kid --, walking forward towards the cave. Sora reached out his arm as if to warn him not to go in alone. The silver-haired glared with his shiny green eyes, placing his hands on his hips, and deciding to play along with Sora's little game. "Suppose there really is a monster..." He said suspensfully, "Think we can beat it by ourselves, Sora?" He smiled playfully to see the brunette's dazzled response, and his confused reaction.

Sora nodded, "No problem." He jumped up and down, almost like he was bouncing, and pointed excitedly to the cave. "Let's do it!"

A gust of wind blew by; they carefully stepped half-way into the cave when this gust rushed by, sending chills down their spines. Riku hesitantly gulped, while Sora was shaking in terror. The green-eyed boy pushed Sora ahead, who freaked for a moment, but carefully walked forward, saying, "Listen!" He put his hand to his ear, and indicated a direction. "There!" He pointed to the dark depths of the cave. Riku's heart stopped when there was a low, monstrous growl. "Can you hear it growling?" Sora said, a little too overbrightly. Riku believed it was a mood swing again -- Sora would go from scared to brave sometimes.

"Shh, quiet." Riku demanded, clapping his hand over Sora's mouth, and looking back into the cave's depths. "We've gotta be careful." Sure, he felt this was pointless and stupid, but Sora sensed something was weird, so if it wasn't a monster, Riku would usually have to prove him wrong... again.

They creeped forward as carefully as possible. They were fully inside, and walking down the windy tunnel that led into the secret base of the cave's end. The soil kicked up as they walked, and the grey rocks looked a little unstable, or perhaps, it was their imaginations. Riku could easily see the tree roots that've formed their way to the cave entrance, meaning that the giant tree at the secret place's base was outgrowing its tiny living space, and needed more room to grow. If the roots hung at the cave's opening, it'd be too dangerous to enter -- imagine what'd happen if the cave collapsed! This made Riku feel like chopping down those roots. This was his and Sora's secret place, not the tree's!

At the secret cave's base, Sora used Riku as a bodyguard by hiding behind him. Riku could feel Sora shaking terribly again, so to prove the little guy wrong, he bravely walked forward, and triumphantly showed Sora that nothing was there. Yet the growling noise was still echoing off the rocky walls. Finally, Riku found the source, and pointed to the cave ceiling, which was opened by the overgrown tree toweing over it, leaving a small crevice. Wind currents flew in and out of the crevice, which produced a growling noise.

Sora's eyes widened in defeat. Riku smiled, "See that? It was just the wind making that noise." Riku concluded; he turned to face the cave exit and didn't move, but prepared himself to leave. He just wanted to hear Sora confess that he was wrong... again.

"Aw man." Sora admitted defeat, but said something that surprised Riku. "I wish it was a monster!" Riku smirked at the image of a monster living inside the cave. Would little Sora be able to handle it? Riku probably would if he HAD a nice weapon. If his parents ALLOWED him to use a weapon -- which he couldn't until next year.

A flash from the corner of his eye forced Sora to look at the cave's base once more. Immediately, he pointed out a random door, built of Destiny Island wood, freshly grown and newly chopped -- Riku could tell by the fresh pine scent. "Hold on!" Sora said, pointing accusingly to the door, "What's that over there?"

Riku thought for a moment, staring at it, and examining it with scrutinizing emerald eyes. "A window, or maybe a door?" Riku noticed there was no Keyhole or doorknob, so maybe it was a wall? "It won't open." He said, realizing this.

"Geez," Sora sighed in irritation, kicking up dirt. Riku looked over at him momentarily, and then back to the door, still listening intently with sharp ears. "Is that really all that's in here?"

In irony, Riku laughed and said, "What do you expect from a boring place like this?" Sarcasm and truth somehow twisted at this point. Suddenly Riku brightened up with an idea. "Hey, Sora."

"Hm?" Sora simply responded, with bright oceanic, dreamy blue eyes.

"When we grow up, let's get off this island." He said, almost as if he was desperate to leave. "We'll go on real adventures, not this kid stuff!" Riku promised his best friend, who smiled and nodded at the offer.

"Sure." Sora said, knowing how far away the future was. It'd be at least another eight yaers until they'd be able to do anything fun, and that was more than their own lifetime so far. "But isn't there anything fun to do now?" Sora asked, almost pleading, after noticing how right Riku was: their island was dead boring.

They began leaving the secret place, looking at each other. Riku smiled, and Sora, almost as if reading the silver-haired boy's mind, said, "Hey, you know the new girl at the mayor's house?" He asked curiously, and Riku nodded as if accepting to go with him to see her. "She arrived at the night of the meteor shower!" Sora reminded his friend, still awlking forward.

Riku suddenly stopped, but Sora didn't notice and continued walking. Riku felt a strange dark vibe; he turned around to see the door, which now bore a giant Keyhole. He stared for many seconds, dead silent, unsure of what to do. Fear over came him... Things can't just appear out of nowhere like that! He gulped, but didn't turn around and retreat, as Sora would do. He narrowed his eyes to check if he was seeing an illusion, or if he had gone crazy. But no, it was real! In his mystery of once dreaming about the Keyhole he saw that day, he turned around, and left at Sora's side.

"Hey, why'd you slag off behind?" Sora asked once Riku caught up, and they were pacing across the sandy shores once more.

Riku gave a friendly smile back, with a sort of childish wonder, "I dunno. I guess I was dreamin'." Sora laughed at that reply, and they took off across the island, racing to their rowboats to head back to their home-island.

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Author's Note:

Remind you of a certain cutscene from Kingdom Hearts? The next chapter will be set nine years later, and it'll start to get fun. Thanks for reading this, please R & R, tell me how to improve it.


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